Skillet Jalapeno Cheddar Homemade Cornbread

Homemade cornbread, baked in a cast iron skillet, full of great jalapeño cheddar flavor! Perfect on it’s own, or alongside some spicy chili!

Homemade cornbread, made in the best way… baked in a cast iron skillet with bacon drippings! This version is also full of jalapeños and cheddar, making it the perfect companion to a big bowl of chili!

Y’all… I LOVE cornbread. It can be a real hot button topic can’t it? Southerners like it one way, Northerners another. I’m not here to tell you that my homemade cornbread is the best ever… because let’s face it, we all have our own opinions of what that means don’t we? So I’ll just say that it’s an absolute family favorite… especially with some butter on top!

My version is slightly sweet, not overly so, with a moist crumb. Not cake-like, but not crumbly either. Personally, I think it’s the best of both worlds!

How do you like your cornbread? By itself? Butter on top? Drizzled with honey? Or alongside a steaming bowl of chili? Honestly, my answer would be all of the above! They all have their time and place right?

I don’t know about you, but now I’m totally hungry!

WHAT IF I WANT TO MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO THIS RECIPE?

Well you totally can! Here are a couple of recommendations:

For a sweeter cornbread, increase sugar to 1/2 cup and honey to 1/3 cup

WHAT ABOUT THE HEAT LEVEL?

I don’t think this homemade cornbread is all that spicy, but if you’re worried, you can use less of the jalapeños, or even omit them altogether. In fact, if you omit the jalapeños and the cheese, this makes a great base cornbread recipe!

The next time you’re serving up a big bowl of chili, or just feeling like you want some great cornbread, I hope you give my recipe a try!

Instructions

To another large mixing bowl, add milk, eggs, melted butter and honey. Whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients mixture and use a wooden spoon to combine. Stir in jalapeños and cheddar cheese. Stir until no flour streaks remain, but don't OVER mix. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron pan over HIGH heat for a minute. Add bacon grease and let it heat up and melt over the bottom of the pan. Turn off the heat and pour in the cornbread batter. Use wooden spoon to spread batter in evenly. If using, top with jalapeño slices, and/or additional cheddar cheese.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Notes

For an even browner crust, preheat skillet in the oven for 10 minutes, add bacon grease, return to oven for 3 minutes, or until fully melted, then add batter and bake as directed.

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Could I make this recipe without the sugar and honey since my husband and I don’t really care for sweet cornbread. I have been making cornbread in an iron skillet for a long time and it’s the best way to cook it.

Found your recipe for cornbread when I wanted a sweeter bread to accompany a batch of white chicken chili I was making. This cornbread came out beautifully from both the skillet and the muffin pan. I used pablano peppers since I had extra from the chili, and I used a 4-cheese Mexican mix that I had on hand instead of cheddar. My husband loves sweet cornbread, but I prefer more traditional flavor. So as a compromise, I cut back on the sugar and honey by about a third. It was still quite sweet and we both loved it! It could double as a dessert! Thanks so much for the awesome recipe, detailed directions, and suggestions for ingredient modifications for personal tastes!

Just tried this recipe. Mayde it exactly as directed. It was terrific. Turned out moist and flavorful. The cast iron skillet is the best way to bake it. I will be making this again. Thank you for a fabulous recipe! Great paired with the White Chicken Chili recipe.

Excellent recipe and I love cooking it in the skillet! My cast iron skillet is still new to me, I’ve always wanted one and I am so in love with it. Every home cook really needs to invest in one much earlier than I did! Anyway, this recipe is very simple and easy to follow and takes just 5 minutes to whip up. I skipped the bacon grease and “greased” my skillet with a teaspoon of butter instead of using the canola oil. I did NOT add any cheese or jalapeños. I used 1/2 cup of white sugar in addition to the honey (I was a bit short on honey) for a sweeter cornbread. My oven runs hot and at 23 minutes the cornbread was perfectly done, beautiful golden brown sides and bottom. It is not overly dry, but it does fall apart easier than other recipes I’ve tried. For example, I could not butter a piece with soft butter because it fell apart in my hand. It works best as a “spoon corn bread” that you just spoon onto your plate. This went alongside the White Chicken Chilli and was the perfect accompaniment! Delicious!

Hello There!

I'm Amanda... a wife, mother of two rambunctious kiddos, photography nerd, and bacon lover! I believe that gourmet meals should be something we can ALL enjoy. Now that you're here, stay a bit, browse a few recipes, and let's get cookin'!